Silence at sunset

You'd be correct to assume this scene comes straight from the southwest. But this arid locale isn't Arizona or Utah, it's the southwestern African nation of Namibia. Running the nearly thousand-mile coast of the country, the Namib (meaning 'vast') Desert boasts natural features from rolling coastal dunes to these jagged granite mountains.This area, Spitzkoppe Nature Reserve (named for a prominent peak lying just outside our image's frame), frequently finds itself in the camera lens. Cinephiles might recognize the region for its most famous film appearance: Stanley Kubrick used stills of Spitzkoppe as a backdrop for the 'Dawn of Man' sequence that opens '2001: A Space Odyssey.'